Posted December 22, 2014
U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that Chinese officials have
approved imports of
Syngenta
GMO corn trait MIR 162
and two varieties of
biotech soybeans, according to a Farm Futures article available here.
The Wall Street Journal also published an article available here,
Star Tribune here,
and Chicago Tribune here.
The
country already has rejected more than 1.2 million tons of U.S. corn since the
ban was imposed.
This
change could resume stronger corn trade with China after they started rejecting
U.S. shipments with any traces of Viptera, according to Star Tribune.
The genetically engineered corn seed, MIR 162, protects corn
against damage from more than a dozen insect species.
Syngenta has previously stated that several major corn
importing countries other than China approved the seed, because it was
commercialized “in full compliance with regulatory and legal requirements.”
Each
country has a regulatory system to “gauge the safety and appropriateness"
of each product, according to the Chicago
Tribune.
"The
key would be for us to have greater alignment between our regulatory systems
and their regulatory systems. Not that we would dictate what conclusions they
would reach, but that we would better synchronize, or time, what we do. The
Chinese have been reluctant to do that," said Vilsack.
China does
not start the process until the U.S. has completed its process, which could delay
a product’s availability "by a matter of years," he said.
Ethanol
producers could benefit the most as China’s approval allows for resumed
purchases of distillers’ dried grains, a byproduct of ethanol production used
for animal feed, according to John Payne, senior market analyst at Daniels
Trading. Chinese livestock producers are one of the biggest purchasers of feed,
according to The
Wall Street Journal.
“The
bigger win is in the ethanol [industry],” said Mr. Payne.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
